Chapter 2

The mysterious gloom that lingered in the corner of a shadow stood with its full height, he couldn't hide anymore. He was in a cocoon of bodies and pointing guns that wouldn't let him emerge from his center. The subject didn't even glace up, his eyes still glazed by the polish of his sunglasses. For a man that had no chance of escape, his expressing language seemed to be casual and cocky.

"State your name!" Gong's words were written hard on Rodriguez's body as he spoke.

"Rodriquez." His lips chambered simply.

"Seeing as I don't think there are any other Rodriquezs around, I think that you are our guy." Ed fingered the barrel of his MP-5 submachine gun into the moping neck of the captive.

Gong and James folded Rodriquez's fixed arms behind his back as Ed clamped his wrist shut with a board shackle. Hunk didn't even bother with the flex of the capture that went on, he knew that his team could handle it by themselves. Hunk was more concern with the unknown BOW that was loose, that nobody had seen it and Umbrella only knew so little about it. Like a dressing cloak, Hunk held his back to the musings of his unit.

"What about the BOW that you were carrying, what happened to it?" A glimmering brush of Hunk's turning head made Rodriquez tilt his head upward.

"Ah, The BOW. It is something that has never been seen before; something that Umbrella wouldn't even know what to do with it. It killed my whole team or I killed my whole team, seeing as I wanted it for myself. From the start, when Umbrella gave me the orders and the substantial value that came with capture of this monster alive, I was a little intrigued. I learned fast of what it was. It drove my team nuts and turned them against each other, it played with us on an almost human level, no it was human. Though, it wasn't that, that made me awed by it, it was the fact that, it was immortal." A rousing harmony sung through Rodriquez's lips, it was more than a smile that rode his features.

"That's bullshit." Ed grinned horribly.

Hunk's lumbering leg tilted around, revolving his body around with a quick face. He raised his weapon like a flag above his shoulder. "Where did it go?"

"After my helicopter crashed, it got loose from its container. Some of the villagers that came to survey the wreckage were attacked and infected by it. I lost my weapons in the crash, expect for my side arm. I followed it into the town, I found some of the locals fighting it in a barn; they were all brutally killed. I tried my best to capture it again, but…" The moist dew of interest came silent, deadly silent. Rodriquez's hand came like a knife as he slide it under his Kevlar vest, parts of it torn and tattered, he lifted like an opening door, blaring a soaking appearance on his jumpsuit, smudged darkly with crimson. "It got me about a day ago. There is only one way that Umbrella will get me."

"We are taking him with us in either condition. Move out!" Hunk spattered.

The air came celled with a bitter fall chill that blanketed the ground as their solid combat boots stamped their prints into the dirt as they neared the center of the town. Like a pack of roving wolves, they collected like a single mass.

'We'll separate into two by two formation and search the town for this BOW. Shiro and James will check out the dinner across town. Gong and me will check the farmhouse. And Ed, I am putting Rodriquez in your hands; you two will check out the church. We will keep low radio usage, unless in trouble. Move out!"

Hunk took a ragged breath as he swelled up the hill that led to the looming farmhouse a mossy layer of cornstalks impending in the view. The farmhouse came like a walking castle, the cornfield its protective moat. Like a body dipping into the ocean, Hunk merged into the tumbling rows of fresh corn. The silky, rough texture of the leaves rushed hatefully over Hunk's form as he treaded through.

"We could be walking into the lion's den." Gong voiced behind Hunk.

"It's better to walk straight into the lion's den and know where it's sleeping." Hunk nearly whispered as his shoulders wobbled downward as he came to a kneeling position. "Wait. There's something up ahead."

A noise twined on the cords of the night, it was like someone was rubbing piano wire together, high pitched and sharp. It whined from the left and then came from the right, moving like a circling animal.

"I know that sound. It's so familiar." Gong wondered, his eyes tracing through the immobile stalks for the sight of the sound. Linking pictures of camp and wooded areas came back from Gong's childhood memories; they were fresh, but seemed far away. Fields of dreamy grass blew with the shine of light, they were tall and unkempt, but it wasn't the grass that made the sound, it was whatever was in the grass. "Grasshoppers!"

Like a call to arms, fleeting legs expanded from the fertile dirt, their greenish brown bodies were slender and round, paired with a set of bracing arms around the insect's neck, that worked as struts for its easy weight, a second couple of inverted legs came as extra support, the third collection were special to its design, they were elongated, nearly folding over themselves, they were linked with unseen muscles, craving flexibility and flight. Like drips of water, the creature's eyes, the size of a man's fist, bulged in their blacken bubbles.

The hovering night swam with leaps of sweating bodies; the giant grasshoppers foamed above the tips of the cornstalks before they waned below the vanity of the foliage. They swept in the sinking ground, rustling through the brittle stalks, persecuting their prey. Like a spiraling elasticity band, one of them shuttled through the drape of heavy air, Hunk's bending arm bracketed against the flying shelled insect, pitching into a batter of flips.

"Run!" Hunk's veering arms pierced into the view of the pattering feet of the insects, his aim dividing a line in the middle of the field. A sizzle of developing flames birthed from the square, boxy muzzle of Hunk's Mine Thrower as the darting spear fingered into the crisp underbelly of the bounding Grasshopper. A charging explosion erupted from the creature's stomach, fluttering hollow husked pieces of carapace and gyrating legs. The touch of flames sprayed against two more of the Grasshoppers, spreading the layer of burning air to their hard shells. A spare round sank from the barrel, this one embedding itself in the mound of crumply dirt. It came as a ticking mine, waiting for the seconds to drain. Hunk's plodding feet hulked fast against the tanking ground, following the lasting image of Gong as he came into the silhouette of the farmhouse's front door. Another skulking missile lined towards the ground, submerging its puncturing noise into the tuft. For each passing step, Hunk discharge a round from the Mine Thrower, making a makeshift field of mines that secured his and Gong's path from the hurdling insects. The leaded door of the farmhouse collapsed against the structured frame as Hunk slammed it behind him. Timed bursts of fire and smoke coiled around the sound that belted from them as the marking mines detonated, the horrid screams and splatters of solidify skin and muscles melted into a slag of fiery buckets. The noise came easy; it was nothing more than satisfaction. Hunk's loading finger let go of the grasp that he held on the rectangular gun, letting it vault against the floor. Even though the gun was empty of its payload, it still cascaded with a deep weight.

The house came with a bitter innocence, the front hall held wide like a gapping tooth. A central staircase embraced the sidewall that lead straight to the second floor. The mild, almost mossy green wallpaper that adorned the face of the walls seemed to mold in front of their eyes, its age present. The house settled with a reassurance of silence, not even the matured floorboard made a sound. The wallpaper crept with a darken shape, shadowing near the ceiling. It was slow and lumbersome, slinking away from its background.

"Upstairs!" Hunk rummaged as him and Gong rambled against the suiting staircase.

Training eyes reached around the corner of the stairwell, packed profoundly with gloom and dusk. A hushed trail of seeping drenched red tailed along the floor, it wasn't alone. Hurdling breaths turned in the darkness as Hunk and Gong stepped closer.

"Just leave me alone. Please just leave me alone; I'll become one of you soon, just like the rest. So, what do you want from me?" The voice was sloppily with tears and distress. It just wanted to hide in the fallen light and kept to himself.

"Don't worry, we are here on a rescue mission. We just want to know what happened here. Can you tell us what happened? Do you remember?" Gong stooped his weight low to the ground, meeting with the wounded man's for extra comfort.

"It happened two days ago. A helicopter crashed near the woods out of nowhere. Some of us got together to see if we could help. I was the first to arrive at the top of the hill. The helicopter was on fire when I arrived, the others and me were able to put it quickly using buckets of water and blankets. After the fire was put out, some of the villagers decided to open up the container that the helicopter was carrying, since they heard something coming from it. Whatever came out of it was fast; it killed everyone that was standing around in a matter of seconds, using some sort of tentacle. At that time the 'copter pilot came out of the cockpit, wounded, he started shooting wildly at the monster, but nothing seemed to affect it. He wouldn't stop. At that time, I told him to just run. He turned around at me, looking at me through his sunglasses and cracked a smile. Then his chest exploded as one of those tentacles tore through it. That thing started taking over him, wrapping him up with its tentacles. I ran I knew there was nothing I could do. I never saw that creature again. Though, I don't know how to explain it, the chopper pilot was alive, walking around like he never had a large tentacle shoved through his chest. He was still human acting in a way, not like one of those zombies. They never went after him like they did the others. I saw from my window, him standing in the middle of a crowd of them and not even one moved. It was like they weren't interested in him, like they knew something about him." The voice smirked.

"Was this helicopter pilot wearing the same uniform that we are?" Like bark being scraped off a tree, Hunk spoke.

"Yes. Though, he didn't have a gas mask on. Wait, he was carrying that monster. That means that you guys are apart of all these too. Who are you guys? You're not here to rescue survivors. You're here to capture that monster. "

Hunk and Gong's melded into an even stare, their surprised eyes settle under the infrared goggles of the chemical mask. "I think we just found the location of Subject two."

Hunk un-strapped a white block, only deemed with a red light. It fastened to the wall easily, like a hanging plaque. "This is a tracking device. Once our mission is complete, we'll come back for you."

The cornfield still rippled with vapors of smoke, the soil overturned and charred with burning marks. Time turned over as they sprinted with their adrenaline drenched legs; bringing them far from the farmhouse that stabled in the background. Shuttering planks of wood beamed with a mounting flare of storming, wild fingers of flames that leveled off the second story of the farmhouse as the charge that Hunk set went off. Hunk wouldn't allow anyone to know about the company's secrets.

A wind of smoldering candles plugged the darkness of the church. Ed lumped his mass through the piers, wondering around carefully with his gun leading each of his steps. Rodriquez questioned behind him, snickering from the corner of his lips.

"Let me ask you a question. How can a rat fuck like yourself capture something that had the ability to infect a whole town and allude us this whole time?" Ed punched his voice towards Rodriquez that didn't even move.

"Umbrella just doesn't know what secrets they have. If Raccoon wasn't as infected as it was I could have gotten away. Though, they sent in a team to found me, no to steal my research. They nearly succeed until I was able to get into their minds." Rodriquez's head bent with eccentric movements as he spoke, his voice underlying with vibrating tinge.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ed volleyed back.

"Umbrella got greedy. After the destruction of Raccoon, they got fearful of all the data that they were going to lose. The research they couldn't have and never would. They tried to steal all that they could from the scientist that worked in Raccoon. They were able to steal some, but Umbrella will never get their hands on my research." Rodriquez's tone came out with hints of femininity as his back squirmed like a nest of bees. Slips of blood dripped as longing tentacles arched around Rodriquez's form, swirling like a dropping cape. His face bubbled and broken, revolving into a face of a woman's, the outline solder by an sketch of leaching, feasting blood.

Packages of bullets cracked from Ed's submachine gun, supplying the forming Rodriquez with pressing bullets that cracked into the changing flesh, snapping out spits of emerald blood. Gathering vines teethed from Rodriquez's back, swirling in the light from the brushing candles. Pushing tentacles spaced through, sinking flesh came fill with mass as one of Rodriquez's appendages oozed from Ed's right thigh. Coiling spread of pain filtered through Ed's body. His chest thumped with push as another tendril chambered from outside of his cavity. Ed could feel the virus come into, the thoughts, the memories that weren't of his own. "Dr. Cameron." He whispered.